Stranger

.THIRTY EIGHT.

AN AWARD SHOW
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Seojun sat quietly backstage with Chu and some other people were around. Stray Kids had went the other direction, TWICE was somewhere else and BLACKPINK had to avoid him, so he was alone with Chu. She respected his timid nature and sat without speaking a word.

"Where is he? Ah, Seojun," one of TWICE's managers said and came over immediately.

"Seojun?" Chu asked herself.

"Sorry about the mix up. The staff isn't the most familiar with the members of each group so they didn't know you weren't a Stray Kid. Let's get back to the girls," the manager said and Seojun slowly stood up.

"Wait, you're not apart of Stray Kids?" Chu asked.

"Sorry, miss, but he can't speak to you. He's not an idol."

"Huh?" was the last thing Chu said when Seojun left with the manager.

They made it back to where TWICE was and Chaeyoung and Sana came to apologize to Seojun.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you like that... I just saw you in the crowd and smiled," Sana said. "Plus I was already kind of laughing from what happened with Chaeyoung."

"I'm sorry, Seojun. You must've been so embarrassed... and now you've got the attention of almost everyone in the building," Chaeyoung said with disappointment in herself.

"Seojun's going to have a hard time hiding from the public now," Jihyo said and she came over. "How could the staff not realize that Seojun wasn't in their group? I'm sure Seojun looks the part but they should do their jobs better."

"Unnie, don't speak so loudly..." Chaeyoung warned.

A knock surprised them and the managers opened it to see a few strangers outside. One of them introduced herself as a representative for SM. There was also a man who came from CUBE. The last person was a man from YG, whom Seojun remembered from the time a manager at JYP wanted to speak to him for the job he had now.

"This is Seojun Jang, the new producer for JYPE that I told you about before the summer," the YG representative said and the two other nodded.

They both greeted Seojun from the door when he walked over. They each offered him business cards and requested to speak to him.

"We know you were mixed up with Stray Kids but you just have the perfect look for an idol," the one from CUBE said.

"And it seemed that you've charmed quite a few people at the show with your embarrassed look," the one from SM said with a smile. "Please stay after the show to discuss with us. We've already been granted access from JYP so don't worry about him."

"Um... No, thanks-"

"Now, don't deny just yet, Seojun. I know you. You do that all the time but the truth is, your heart knows this is an opportunity you cannot miss," the YG representative said. "I mean, look where your first 'no' got you."

The man gestured around them and the other two nodded again. They held out their business cards again and Seojun reluctantly took them.

"I think you'd be a perfect fit for the new boy group based from China," the SM person said. "They're called WayV. They're relatively new so it wouldn't be a surprise to the public to have you as an addition."

"Don't stress him out yet, give him time to think," TWICE's manager said and diverted the three people long enough for them to leave.

Seojun sighed and stared at the cards in his hands.

"Just saying, I knew everyone would love you," Chaeyoung said quietly.

"Let's just give Seojun some space for now. Everything must be very hard to handle at the moment," Jihyo said and took Sana and Chaeyoung aside.

Seojun took a deep breath and put the cards in his pocket. He turned to the manager and pleaded to change his outfit so people wouldn't recognize him.

The manager agreed and Seojun changed into a different outfit. This time, he wore a loose, satin button-up top with one side tucked into black leather pants. He wore military styled boots and a headband with his hair draped over the sides. His bruises were covered again and he wore a glove on his injured hand to hide the scars.

"They made me stand out more than before," he thought as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll wear a mask," he told the manager and left the room.

More people were walking around the halls and Seojun avoided everyone's eye contact. He walked straight down the hall and eventually reached a dead end but the name BLACKPINK was written on a nearby door.

Seojun turned around and four girls exited the room in front of him. They bowed when they saw him but Jennie knew exactly who she was bowing to.

Down the hall was Kai with his manager and Seojun saw Jennie sigh a little. He smirked at her annoyed reaction under his mask and tried to prevent an awkward situation by leaving but Jennie held his hand.

"Don't leave yet," she said.

"Jennie, what are you doing?" Lisa asked and everyone was confused.

BLACKPINK's manager exited the room and quickly pulled Jennie's hand away from Seojun.

"This is Seojun. He just changed clothes," Jennie said and gestured from him to take the mask off, which he obeyed.

The manager gasped and pulled the mask back onto Seojun's face.

"Are you crazy? He can't be seen around you guys. Especially when Kai was right down the hall," the manager said. "There's no one here now but words travel fast."

"I don't understand why he can't just be our friend that passed by," Rosé said. "Our fans will find out sooner or later that he's a friend of our from school."

"Don't you remember what YG told you? You even have a dating ban so why would you put yourself in danger?"

"Let's just listen to our manager, girls. There's no point of fighting when we know we can't be around Seojun," Jisoo said sadly. "I'm sorry, Seojun."

"You may be friends at Silver Valley but you're in the public now. You all are nothing but strangers, got it?"

•••
I hope the storyline is making sense now... if not I'm sorry, but thank you very much for reading